The major objective of this research is to make significant contributions to organic chemistry and medicine through synthetic studies of natural products with antitumor activity, including mitomycins, aclacinomycins, aplysiatoxins, macbecin, phyllanthocin, and bruceantin. We believe that the power of organic synthesis can be most effectively extended by challenging such complex synthetic targets. Much of the progress in medicine depends upon the extension of this power of organic chemistry. It is also our specific objective to develop general, efficient and practical syntheses of certain natural products which have promising antitumor activity but which are not available in appreciable amounts from natural sources, and then apply them to the synthesis of their analogs and derivatives with the hope that some will exhibit improved therapeutic ratios.